Books-into-Movies Bingo

It's time for my annual move into a "Pop-Up" Library for six weeks - a smaller cozier space so grade 11 + 12 exams can happen in our large library. 

I'm going with a "popcorn" theme, so for this cycle's library time I'm doing Books-into-Movies booktalks.

The opening nugget is about how reading AND watching can deepen our understanding of a story (including narrative nonfiction). 

It does not matter to me if a student reads the book first or watches the movie first; extra meaning and learning happens either way. But this topic sparks debate! So we'll talk a bit about the benefits of each and ask "What team are you on?"

Team 1: Reading the book after they see the movie. 

From the movie, they may more easily understand the plot structure, have a picture of the characters and setting, or feel an emotional connection to the content. Also, already knowing the events of the story may help them understand the author's craft in a new way.

Team 2: Reading the book before seeing the movie

They want to visualize the characters themselves - to "own" the book in that special way that readers feel when they've imagined everything in such a powerful way that it seems to belong in their head. (This is how I feel about The Giver - I'll never see the movie because I don't want anything to ruin my picture of it).

After getting clear that the order of operations doesn't matter - we do a "bingo" activity.

Activity:

First, students brainstorm NINE books that have been made into a movie or show and might be in our library. They are welcome to browse the shelves to spark ideas. They write the titles on a bingo board, circling any they've read and/or watched.

Next, I show slides of over 100 movies that are books in our library. Students mark matches on their bingo cards. On the back of their sheet, they note any titles they want on their TBR list.

Categories:

- First person with three in a row

- First person with whole card filled

- Students who match any obscure titles (for example "Outbreak" by Robin Cook)

- The person who has ALL of the Timothee Chalamet movies on their card 😅 (Or all Julia Roberts, or Meryl Streep...)

For the winners....

- a bookmark - see below

- a "shout-out" such as a "Standing O" or a "stomp-stomp-clap"

Resources:

- Bingo sheet (Canva Template)

- Slides (Canva Template)

- "Read a Movie" Bookmark (Canva Template)

- Visual Lists (Canva Template, MG and YA books-into-movies)

- "Pop-Up" Library sign for anyone in my situation of moving at this time of year! (landscape or portrait templates)

AI Time-saving Tip:

Gather your titles on an Excel or Google sheet. Upload the sheet to ChatGPT and ask it to fetch the matching movie posters. It gave me several options per title, so I downloaded the ones I liked best and then uploaded the images as a batch to Canva. 

Save-a-Buck Booktalks

It's a common teacher-librarian problem: We prepare booktalks about a set of titles and generate so much excitement with students that all the books get checked out! 

Ack!

It's super frustrating to see a kiddo get excited about a story and not be able to have it. Sure, they can hold it, but it's just not the same. 

Enter Save-a-Buck booktalks: 

• I only talk about books that are IN the library. 
• If someone wants the book, I give it to them immediately with a "buck" to use as a bookmark. (They just saved themselves a bit of money by borrowing from the library instead of buying from a bookstore!)
• Rules: One book per person. Swaps wait until the end.

This works when you...

• know your collection really well, 
• can skim and scan book blurbs at lighting speed, 
• can talk off the cuff about books easily

Procedure:

• Gather a stack of books equal to the number of students in the class
• Prepare a set of "Save-a-Buck" bookmarks to give out with each claimed book (see Canva Template)
• Declare yourself a winner if you get rid of all the bucks!

Beat-the-Clock Booktalks

So many books, so little time!

This week, I'm doing "Beat the Clock" booktalks. The challenge is to talk about each book within 25 seconds before the slide moves ahead!

Students will hold up a "yes" or "no" card to show if they're interested in the book and then I'm on to the next book - no discussion - gotta keep moving!

We have a "Top 100 Middle Grade Books" on a visual and resource list, but I haven't officially book-talked all of them. This is a fast way to get it done! 

Most of the books I know well enough to improvise, but I wrote up notes to practice ahead of time. 

The notes are a mash-up of my own recollections of the story, goodreads reviews, and Canva's "Magic Write" to get a quick summary. Each cover links to the Goodreads page.

• Canva Slides to present
• Canva Template - to edit & add your own 
• Canva "Yes/No" voter cards - print, cut, laminate - lots of uses for these

Bingo Book Tasting

Here's a quick and fun way to ensure students are actually reviewing the titles we put out for them to sample: Combine a book tasting with a bingo board.

Grade 9 is coming to see our collection of books about WWII - and we have a ton! 

Fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, true survival stories, true rescue stories, DK books with engaging timelines and maps - it's fabulous but....

it can be overwhelming.

To help students focus, I create a Bingo Board that has lots of possible answers for each block. This helps students review the stack at their table with a sense of purpose.

They rotate around to different tables, gathering ideas of what to read and filling in their board. The ones with the most complete sheets get a mini Snickers.

To start, I show slides with the books and do quick booktalks about a few of them.

I create visual lists of the books for them to browse in our display.

Each student gets a bingo board and a pencil and then it's free time to explore the books!

Grade 9 LibGuide that highlights WWII books in our collection

Canva Template to the Bingo Board (I kept it simple for B&W printing)

Canva WWII Visual Book Lists (template) or public view

Extension Activity: Nicky & Vera

It's important to highlight the heroes amongst the everyday people who resisted the efforts of the Nazi party. 

The picture book Nicky & Vera, by Peter Sis, is a short and moving account of the Englishman, Nicholas Winton, who saved over 600 children from Prague by arranging foster families, train tickets, and documents to bring them alone on trains to London. 

After reading the story, I showed a clip from the British TV show "That's Life". 

In the show, we see the elderly Sir Winton surprised to meet some of the children he rescued all those years ago. It's an emotional moment for the students to see the characters in the picture book in "real life".

Visual Booktalks

Here's a quick way to add context when talking about a book: add pictures!

As I was preparing booktalks for this cycle's library time with grade 6-9 students, I found myself wanting to show some maps and "local color" like foods, vegetation, and settings to help students gain background about the story.

So after my usual bullets to highlight key characters and events, I added a collage of images (grabbed via the "search web" feature in google slides). The images show while I'm talking about the books - they engage the audience and they help me remember details to weave into the talk!

Visual Booktalks (slides)

Ski Week Reads

I was sick for half of our February ski week. It's ok! I read some of the new books that came in just before we left.

Glory O'Brian's History of the Future, by A.S. King

Glory and her best friend (because she lives close) find a dead bat and mix its decomposed ashy remains with a beer, drink up, and begin seeing visions of the future. This happens at a natural turning point for Glory: high school graduation. She's made it though high school with her mother's suicide haunting her for 13 years. It's time to get some answers and see if there's anything worth sticking around for. 

She confronts her father, stagnating on the couch, best-friend Ellie's "all about me" personality, and her own curiosity about her mother's past, and she finds there's much more good ahead than not. Alongside, she writes a history of the future, as best as she can patch it together from the "transmissions" she gets from anyone she makes eye contact with. The future is a kind of political nightmare in which it's illegal for women to work. 

This whole parallel story felt forced, but I guess it was necessary for Glory because that's how she finds her excitement for the future, in what she could be if she gets involved and chooses to live fully.

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, by Lesley Walton

It's not often I find myself reading just to enjoy the pace and language of a story as it unfolds - not to find out what will happen, but just to be with the characters. This is that kind of story. 

It's the story of Ava Lavender, a girl born with wings. She tells us in the prologue that she's researched her ancestors to find out how she came to be. Turns out how she came to be is a magical tale stretching back to her great-great grandparents and the loves and losses felt in each generation. 

An astonishing and beautiful novel.

Tomboy, by Liz Prince

Liz dresses like a boy, and has since age 4. She's comfortable that way. What this means to the people around her, however, is where a lifetime of tension begins. What does her appearance say about her? What does it mean about her identity? Why does it make others uncomfortable and make her a target? She explores these and other questions as she charts her path through elementary, middle, and high school. Fresh and honest, she takes on the question "who am I?" in a way that boys, girls, men, and woman can probably all relate to.

One of the more relate-able aspects of this memoir for me is the ever-shifting landscape of her friendships. How her friends change, or don't, how they support her, or don't - this constant process of finding people who click with her, during whatever stage she's in, feels super real.

Note about the artwork: It's sketchy. The text is sloppy enough to be tricky to read in places. It's part of the charm and it forced me to slow down my reading - something I need to do with graphics to fully appreciate them.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before, by Jenny Han

This is a light read, so light that it's tempting to put it down a star because it feels like the teen girl is too normal, so lacking is she in her desire to make "a statement." Our narrator is Lara Jean, a Korean-American high schooler who writes love notes to boys she likes but never sends them. Somehow, the notes get sent and this starts a swirl of romantic activity unlike anything she's ever experienced. 

It's all sweetness and light flirting, family dynamics, and boy-next-door innocence. A great read for that patron looking for a "fluff" read that's well-written and real.

I Remember Beirut, by Zeina Abirached

This is a personal account of what the author remembers about her childhood during Lebanon's Civil War in the 1980's-90's. She family lived in East Beirut, cut off from the rest of the city. They lived "normal" lives, getting their car windshield replaced often when bombings occurred, waiting for hours in traffic to get out of the city for a reprieve, and adjusting the logistics of daily life when supplies, electricity, and transportation was interrupted. This is not as chronological as its predecessor, Game of Swallows. It feels more personal and sometimes it's like a private joke since some of the references aren't known to the average reader (even me, who lived in Beirut in the early 2000s.)

Still, it's worth a read because it captures that breezy Lebanese air of "War? What war? We're living our lives!"

Picture Book Month: Book talks #2

Happy Picture Book Month, week 2! 
These picture books tie into each day's theme last week. Each day's post about the importance of picture books is linked as well.

Nov 9: Music

Ben's Trumpet, by Rachel Isadora
Ben sits out on the fire escape at his apartment listening to jazz coming from a nearby club. He watches the men practice after school and imagines himself as part of the band, with a trumpet belting out notes and part of the scene. Black and white illustrations capture the energy of 1920's Harlem with realistic portraits of the musicians contrasted with abstract patterns representing their music. This would pair well with the novel Bud, Not Buddy.

Nov 10: Creativity

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsburg
This nearly wordless book presents 14 story starters - pictorial mysteries that spark the imagination. They were left behind by a fictional writer, Harris Burdick, who promised to return with the full manuscripts later but never did. The dramatic opening statement makes a good entry into discussion of real versus pretend for older elementary students, and the whole volume invites creative thinking from all ages.

Nov 11: Elephants

Elephants Aloft, by Kate Appelt, illustrated by Keith Baker

What a cool concept: a nearly wordless book that teaches prepositions. Double-page spreads show two elephants on a hot-air balloon journey to visit their aunt. As they travel, each adventure is labeled with a preposition. For example, they splash "under" a waterfall and "above" a city. Richly colored illustrations make the magic.

This would have uses across the elementary grade levels for teaching basic "position" words to youngsters or for creating prepositional phrases with grades 3 and up


Nov 12: Planes, Trains, Automobiles

Freight Train, by Donald Crews
Simple concept beautifully realized, we learn the names of different cars on a freight train and each is a different color of the rainbow. When the train moves, the colors blur together to create a sense of the train's speed. We watch it travel through tunnels, into cities, along trestles. Its graphic style appeals to preschool and up.


Nov 13: ABC, 123

One Rainy Day, by Valeri Gorbachev
Pig tries to explain to his friend (or father?) how he got soaking wet on the way home, and, as he tells his tale, we begin to realize that he has a wild and crazy imagination. His excuse is that there was no room for him under the tree because an increasing number of animals arrived and crowded him out. It's a counting book, too. I like the way the pig's imaginary tale is illustrated on part of the page, while Pig and Goat are shown in "real life" below. A pull-out page shows just how jam-packed it got under the tree. A funny surprise ending adds an extra punch.

Nov 14: Reading

The Wednesday Surprise, by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Donald Carrick
A girl and her grandmother meet every week to plan a special surprise for Father's birthday.  The reader will have a fun surprise too, since the gift is among the most beautiful we could imagine.





Nov 15: Nature

Redwoods, by Jason Chin
Factual and fun! A boy discovers a book about Redwoods and quickly becomes immersed in the wonder of these giants in nature. Information is written in a natural "text-to-self" style, giving students quick references to put it in context. This would be a good read aloud to model such strategies. Realistic painted illustrations complete the vision of a boy totally immersed in his newly acquired knowledge.

Picture Book Month: Book Talks #1

Each week during Picture Book Month, we'll highlight a favorite picture book for each day's theme (see calendar here). 

Each day's link below leads to the essay posted that day on the picture book month website. These essays remind us why picture books are SO important and are written by AMAZING picture book writers and illustrators. 

This year, Mondays are for nonfiction picture books. I love this idea!

Nov 1: Ocean

Amos and Boris, by William Stieg
This classic picture book details the friendship of Amos, the mouse, and Boris, the whale. Amos is sailing the great blue ocean when he falls overboard and is rescued by the giant friendly whale, Boris. During their journey back to Amos's home, they become good friends - finding much to admire and respect about each other. They part with Amos promising to help Boris someday, too. Will he be able to repay the favor?

Nov 2: Rabbits

Little Bunny Foo Foo, retold by Paul Brett Johnson
A picture book to go with the song of the naughty bunny "Foo Foo" who bops forest animals on the head and keeps misbehaving, despite warnings from the Good Fairy. In this version, Foo Foo is using mud pies to bop the heads of foxes, muskrats, and even bears! The Good Fairy interjects among verses of the song to show her disapproval. She even engages the audience by asking questions like "Do you think he listened?" A fun read aloud (and sing-along) for younger students and a good mentor text for older students to show point of view and voice.

Nov 3: Bugs

Butterfly House, by Eve Bunting
When a girl rescues a caterpillar from being eaten by a blue jay, she and her grandfather decide to make a butterfly house where it can safely turn into a butterfly. The tenderness between the girl and her grandfather and toward their special larvae, and the luminous paintings that accompany the text make this a beautiful book. Told in free verse.


Nov 4: Bedtime

Night Lights, by Susan Gal
This quiet book shows young children all the different types of lights that help us in the dark. From streetlights to porch lights outside, from flashlights to bike headlights, from reading lights and bedroom nightlights: there are lots of types of lights to help us through the evening hours. This is a peaceful calming look at night time.

Nov 5: Around the World (nonfiction Monday!)

Flags of the World, by Sylvie Bednar
This is one of the most popular books in our library. It's a smallish book - chunky and glossy-paged. Each country's flag is shown against a clean modern layout. Listed facts about the country keep the text from overpowering the visual appeal of the flag itself.

Nov 6: Farm

All the Places to Love, by Patricia MacLachlan
A young boy tells the story of his childhood on a farm and highlights how his grandparents' lives are central to his experiences. Realistic oils and rich language make this a picture book for many uses: for example, a mentor text for personal narrative, an example of "nostalgia", or to show setting as integral to story.


Nov 7: Bears

Old Bear, by Kevin Henkes
This is a sweet, simple story about a bear who falls asleep in the winter and dreams of all of the things he loves about each season. When he wakes up, it's like he was never asleep! The winning element is the fanciful and riotous colors he imagines while he's sleeping. Double-page, full bleed illustrations create a sense of dreams fully realized. I guess it's a bit poignant too, since he's an "old" bear. He's seen many seasons and maybe won't be seeing too many more.

Book Talk Tuesday: Big Wig

It's been fun preparing for our visit with Kathleen Krull. Many students are already familiar with two of her books since they were on our Golden Dragon lists in the past two years: Kubla Kahn and The Boy Who Invented TV. 

Big Wig: A Little History of Hair, by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Paul Malone

What a cool concept! A whole book about hair and the hairstyles that were popular in various places and at different times in history. Organized chronologically beginning with pre-history, we learn about the connection between history and personal style in bite-sized chunks of information. An illustration accompanies each fact providing a necessary visual for some of the more bizarre styles. 

Invention of the hairdryer: vacuum in reverse!

We learn how the curling iron was invented (by a horse-groomer!) how Italian women discovered "highlights", and how trends in the media popularized famous hairstyles like the "Dorothy Hamill" and the beehive.

The amount of information is just right: short enough for a read-aloud with grades 3+, but detailed enough to be informative. It's a great way to pique students' curiosity to learn more about a particular era or examine current trends on the red carpet and find their inspiration.

Some videos to supplement:
Shirley Temple and her "banana" pin curls
The Supremes and their "beehives"
The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show
Dorothy Hamill's 1974 Free Skate

Book Talk Tuesday: "B" shelf giveaway

I am still slogging through the "B" section of our picture book collection. Good night, has Jan Brett ever published a ton of books! And I haven't even gotten to "Brown and Browne" (although I'm looking forward to it :)

This is one of my favorite parts of being a librarian: getting to know the collection and discovering gems on our very own shelves. Here are two that I really enjoyed and hadn't heard of before. See the end of the post for a giveaway of one of these. I'll choose an entry randomly on Friday morning, Budapest time.

Before You Were Mine, by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by David Walker

A boy imagines what life was like for the dog his family has adopted from a shelter. We get a picture of their life together now (learning tricks, sleeping under the covers), how it might have been for the dog before he was found (cold, chained up, hungry), the circumstances that might have led to him becoming a stray (owners moved to a "no dog" apartment, or running away), and the reason the family adopted him in the first place (their other dog died). The whole story exudes the tenderness the boy feels for his new pet.

Oil pastel (or acrylic?) illustrations.

Page from Before You Were Mine

The King's Chessboard, by David Birch, illustrated by Devis Grebu


Exponents! And a great lesson about kindness being its own best reward. A king wants to repay a wise man for his service but the wise man resists. After much pressure from the king, he agrees to a reward of grains of rice for as many days as there are squares on a chessboard. But, the grains must multiply by twice the amount as the day before. This becomes TONS (literally) of rice, and the king realizes his error. 

Set in India. Detailed watercolor illustrations. Grades 4 and up and up...!

page from The King's Chessboard

Why I love Ivan

I love the novel The One and Only lvan, by Katherine Applegate. It's been getting lots of attention, thanks to the Nerdy Book Club. But there may be some doubters out there (see SLJ's Heavy Medal post). 

This is a story told from the point of view of a caged gorilla.

For those who have trouble suspending disbelief, please read this story with an open mind. It's an imaginary view of how a real gorilla, Ivan, might have felt. It's a commentary on our humanity, a vision of what it means to be a true friend, and a story of injustice and justice. 

If you can believe in Charlotte and the Velveteen Rabbit and Edward Tulane, you can believe in Ivan.

Other things I love about the novel...

Kid appeal:
Short paragraphs (often one sentence long) create a visually appealing book for students who might not normally choose a "thick" chapter book. Lots of white space and pictures that truly illustrate the text move the reader through the story quickly.


The characters:
The animals...
Ivan - a caged gorilla born in the wild, a philosopher king and artist
Stella - a former circus elephant with a bad foot and a big heart
Bob - a stray dog who sometimes sleeps with Ivan and keeps him company
Ruby - a new arrival to the "domain", a younger elephant bought from a circus

The people...
Julia - a fellow artist and gorilla whisperer
George - Julia's father, a tender soul who cleans the mall where Ivan lives
Mack - the animals' keeper

The Voice:
Ivan the gorilla is a sardonic observer of human beings. He's painfully aware of his own place in the world, but lets his heart expand to come to a place of peace about it.

He thinks:

I too find it hard to believe there is a connection across time and space, linking me to a race of ill-mannered clowns.

Chimps. There's no excuse for them.

Use of Dramatic Irony:

Because the story is told from an animal's point of view, we get a behind-the-scenes vibe from the comments of the human characters. 

As Mack struggles to train Ruby...

Ruby jerks to a stop. Mack pulls the chain hard, but Ruby refuses to move.

"Come on Ruby." Mack is almost pleading. "What is your problem?"

"She's exhausted," I say to myself. "That's the problem."

Mack groans. "Idiot elephant."

"Idiot human," Bob mutters.

Emotional content:

The humor, the gut-wrenching sadness, the pathos. It's all there.

As Ivan contemplates his situation...

"He looks so lonely," they say.

Not long ago, a little boy stood before my glass [cage], tears streaming down his smooth red cheeks. "He must be the loneliest gorilla in the world," he said, clutching his mother's hand.

At times like that, I wish humans could understand me the way I can understand them.

It's not so bad, I wanted to tell the little boy. With enough time, you can get used to almost anything.

An ending we get to fully experience:

Without giving anything away, I love that the ending of this book feels long. So often the conflict gets solved (or not) and we don't get to experience the final result WITH the character(s). We have to imagine them continuing on and wonder how it's going for them. Not so with Ivan. We get to live his ending with him. 



The One and Only Ivan, book trailer

(Images and trailer from http://theoneandonlyivan.com/)

Book Talk Tuesday: Book love

These picture books are perfect for bibliophiles, but they're also great for our youngsters who may not have fallen for books...yet. Each of these works well as a read-aloud for a full class.

Read to Tiger, by S. J. Fore, illustrated by R. W. Alley

Our young main character is trying to read his book. He's in a cozy spot, clicks on his reading lamp, and gets started. But he CAN'T read his book because there's a TIGER who keeps interrupting! He's chomping on chewing gum, or doing karate kicks, or some other noisy thing that bothers our little reader. How will the boy get the tiger to be quiet and let him read?

From Read to Tiger

This is fun as a read-aloud for PreK through grade 1 because we can make lots of silly noises. It's also a great way to start a conversation about reading as a quiet "just me" activity. The pictures show lots of movement and are done as sketchy watercolors.




Book! Book! Book!, by Deborah Bruss, illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke

The barnyard animals are bored now that summer is over and all of the children have gone back to school. What can they do to entertain themselves? 

They decide to head into town and try out the library. Unfortunately, none of them can be understood by the librarian. All she can hear is "neigh" or "oink" or "moo". Is there an animal that will be able to communicate with her? (hint: check the title!)

From Book! Book! Book!

Rough childlike watercolors match well with the text and lead us along. The pictures make the story feel very approachable. This also has a fun surprise at the end.






The Incredible Book Eating Boy, by Oliver Jeffers

"Henry loved books. But not like you and I love books, no. Not quite..." 

And so begins a story about a boy who loves books so much, he eats them. He loves them all, but especially red ones. The more he eats, the smarter he gets, spewing out mathematical equations and geographical features and upstaging his teacher. But he consumes books at such an alarming rate, we begin to wonder...how can this be good for him? He starts to turn a bit green. 

Can he find a balance between loving books so much he wants to ingest them and loving them just enough to get all the information into his brain instead of his stomach?

From The Incredible Book Eating Boy

The illustrations are a brilliant complement to the book's concept: richly layered collage in a scrapbook style puts different types of pages and fonts all around Henry. The whole book is created with books.